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Billy Bob Thornton Says 'Bad Santa 2' Won't Be as Good as the First

We've been hearing about Bad Santa 2 intermittently from Billy Bob Thornton over the past couples years. The original film is now 11 years old, which means more time has passed than the time it took for Adam McKay and Will Ferrell to get Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues off the ground. Many fans have probably just assumed the project is dead and would never become a reality, but it sounds like the film is just stuck in the Hollywood development machine. Thornton recently took part in a Hollywood Masters discussion at Loyola Marymount University’s School of Film & Television and talked a bit about the sequel.

When asked what was going on with Bad Santa 2, the actor and occasional filmmaker said (via THR):

"We’re just waiting for a script, ya know? We’re never gonna beat the first one but you got to get as close as you can. You just can’t go and do it halfway so we’re waiting for something that’s close enough. It’ll do real well I imagine and people will say, ‘Well, it wasn’t as good as the first one’ and we’ll say ‘Yeah, we knew it wouldn’t be’ but I think it should be fun and I think people who liked [the first one] will enjoy it and hopefully we’ll get it off."

It's refreshing to hear that Thornton already knows that the sequel probably won't live up to the first film, especially after 11 years have passed. That's the problem the the Anchorman sequel had a little trouble overcoming. In the time since the original film hit sequels, the first film because a huge hit, quoted by everyone, and there was no way the sequel would exceed expectations of the fans. So maybe if those who enjoyed the first film keep the hype in check, they'll still find a lot to love about Bad Santa 2, which is exactly how I felt about the second Anchorman film. Last we heard was "Entourage" creator Doug Ellin was going to rewrite the script and maybe direct, but we're not sure what's happening now. Stay tuned.